SEO: Single URL rewrite from one app to another

Question

I have two web applications running on two different servers. I want one, example.com/hello, to redirect to the second, hello.com. But I want both to contribute to each other's SEO ranking. What is the best way to accomplish this primarily for google search and for other search engines?

I currently do a rewrite with permanent from example.com/hello to hello.com using nginx.

If both URLs pull up the same website than you have only one app to promote. — John Conde, Nov 10 '13 at 04:26
To clarify, example.com would be a separate app hosted on a different server, and only the single url example.com/hello would redirect to hello.com. I would like these two sites to promote each other. Do you have any advice on how best to accomplish this? — user1909186, Nov 11 '13 at 01:06

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 13 '13 at 17:41

0

Rather than use redirects to cross-promote your sites, you should just be linking the pages on on app to the other. If users of hello.com would find example.com useful, put a blurb about example.com on hello.com along with a link so that users can get from one to another. Search engines will see this link as well.

answered Nov 13 '13 at 17:41

Stephen Ostermiller

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Thank you for the answer! Would you say it's better than doing a location redirect with nginx? – user1909186 Nov 13 '13 at 19:19
Unless you are currently serving the same content various URLs on both sites, a redirect is not going to accomplish anything. – Stephen Ostermiller Nov 13 '13 at 19:26
I am! So, I have two separate web applications. I want each of them to promote the other. Ex: on one url of application A, example.com/theothersite, it redirects to application B, theothersite.com. I want this to happen so users of application A can find application B, and if someone searches for application B on google, it promotes application A. Is a location rewrite good for this? If not, what is? – user1909186 Nov 13 '13 at 19:49
You certainly don't want the same content served at different URLs. Put in redirects to prevent duplicate content. – Stephen Ostermiller Nov 13 '13 at 19:56
I'm sorry, I'm not very familiar with SEO. Why is serving the same content at different URLs bad? – user1909186 Nov 13 '13 at 20:59
See: What is duplicate content and how can I avoid being penalized for it on my site? – Stephen Ostermiller Nov 13 '13 at 21:00
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! You've been incredibly helpful! – user1909186 Nov 13 '13 at 21:59

SEO: Single URL rewrite from one app to another

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